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Some of the nastiest storms of the year happen in the summer season, but they are not always ‘severe’ like the powerful, destructive storms of Spring and Fall (the ones that bring the extreme winds and tornadoes).

That was the case for northwest Madison County and south Franklin County in Tennessee Wednesday when a thunderstorm produced heavy rain and locally damaging winds in the New Market and Elora areas.

Summer storms are more simple than the severe storms of the other seasons. Hot, humid air rises (quickly) creating the storm, but eventually that air cools, condenses out water vapor, and gets too heavy for the updraft to hold.

That’s when it crashes to the ground in what we call a ‘downburst.’ Those downbursts can fall to the ground at up to 100 miles per hour, and when they hit the ground all of that energy spreads out on the ground as damaging winds.

Watch the downburst signature over SE Lincoln Co. Wednesday afternoon. The red (outbound from the radar) and green (inbound to the radar) wind fields moving away from each other show potential for very strong winds. #valleywxpic.twitter.com/r6dcJBp5l7